This invention relates to modular connectors and more particularly to modular telephone connectors.
Standard modular telephone connectors conform to FCC specification section 68.500, subpart F (standard 68.500) and contain 2, 4, or 6 contacts. Some even contain 8 contacts. This "standard 68.500" is hereby incorporated by reference. In its most basic form, a telephone connector needs only two contacts to accommodate the "tip" and "ring" of a conventional telephone, but more contacts are provided to accommodate various auxiliary optional functions. In data applications where a modem is interposed between data communication equipment and the telephone network, the output port of such a modem is often presented via the female modular telephone connector.
Such a port serves well in a wired environment, but in a wireless environment the modem needs to be connected to a wireless transceiver, and the question is how to connect the modem with its standard, modular, female, telephone connector to the wireless transceiver. Fortuitously, wireless telephones (hereinafter "PCDs", meaning Personal Communication Devices) typically include a multi-pin connector that allows for interaction with the PCD. Such interaction can comprise modifying the PCD's protocols modifying the ID number, or modifying any number of the PCD's operating features and capabilities. One other purpose to which the connector can be applied is to send data through the PCD to the telecommunication system with which the PCD interacts in a wireless manner and to provide a remote microphone and speaker connection.
Alas, the standard modular telephone female connector cannot be used to directly interface with the multi-pin connector of the PCD because the female connector at a modem's output port does not support the number of pins that are necessary to interface with the multi-pin connector of the PCD. The need, then, is for a connector that is both compatible with the standard telephone connector arrangement of standard 68.500 and is also capable of interacting with the multi-pin interface of PCDs.